Timing for Quarantine and Tank Setup when it's your first saltwater Aquarium.

[bluerider098]

So I am in the process of setting up my first saltwater aquarium and want to follow the best practices possible. So I am planning on quarantining everything including corals before I put them in my dt.

So my questions are as follows:
- Do I setup my Dt and qt at the same time and just let my dt run empty for the 6 or so weeks required for quarantine? If so how will my dt cycle of there are no nutrients being introduced into the tank?

- I assume I need separate Quarantine tanks for my fish and corals so how can I get those cycled if I don't have any items to put in them from a cycled tank.

- Lastly would filter media from an established freshwater tank help cycle a saltwater tank?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Rapamycin]

Hello! I was in this same predicament early this year. I used to have several freshwater tanks and then took a break only to start over with saltwater this time back in March.0

I decided to set up both my DT and QT at the same time as well. I added the liquid nitrifying bacteria from a bottle (Dr. Tim’s or BioSpira, for instance) and then bought Dr. Tim’s bottled ammonia. I seeded the tanks with the ammonia as way to feed the bacteria while the bacterial colonies grew. The whole cycling for the smaller QT system could be done in a matter 2-3 weeks (you’ll need to constantly monitor levels of ammonia and nitrite so see how fast they go down... and don’t be surprised by a “nitrite stall” where ammonia goes down fairly quickly and nitrite appears to never go down... it can stall for several days but eventually nitrite will fall.0

A couple of tips while cycling your QT tank, keep the lights off so brown algae doesn’t start growing. Also, raise the temperature to 82+ degrees as bacteria will grow faster at higher temperature (TEMP SHOULD NEVER BE THIS HIGH WITH FISH IN IT!!!).

Hopefully this is helpful and can get you started. You can buy the Dr Tim’s bottle ammonia online and it will absolutely do the trick! Let me know if you have any questions

 

[Pistol Peet]

I agree and used the same methods on all my tanks 4 in total definitely check out dr tims website and check out BULK REEF SUPPLY BRS 160 videos and the rest that they have I t will put u on the right track with more confidence in what you are doing. Very informative and very useful and trustworthy. Broken down and easy to understand.... I love we there videos.

 

[Pistol Peet]

If you have any other questions u can message me and I'll try to help you out the best I can or point u to the right person to help. There are tons of great people on here that are specialists in their area of expertise and there experience and knowledge is second to none..

Just for an example @Jay Hemdal is the fish disease expert.. some 1 u will need to and want to know sooner or later. Better sooner

 

[bluerider098]

Thanks for the reply. So once the tanks are cycled and I put my fish in my quarantine tank is ok for the DT to just stay empty out do I need to keep putting ammonia in the dt during the 6 week quarantine?

Thanks again.

 

[Spieg]

If you want to save a few bucks, you can use a piece of raw shrimp from the super market as an Ammonia source. Just toss a piece in each tank and it will create Ammonia as it decomposes. And yes I would suggest you have 2 QT (1 for fish and 1 for coral) in case you need to use copper to treat fish, you don't want any coral in that tank. Also only QT a couple of fish at a time so bio load remains low and fish don't feel crowded.

 

[ca1ore]

Personally, I would just cycle the main tank but include a bag of biomedia that you can then use to setup your QT and have a ready made bio filter. Bacteria from an established FW will not work for SW.

Whether you run one or multiple QT tanks is up to you. I personally have two. One is a permanently setup reef tank for coral QT and tricky fish. The second is setup as a need it and is only for fish. If a fish in the former tank needs treatment it is moved into the latter.

 

[beginner_reefer]

Personally, I would just cycle the main tank but include a bag of biomedia that you can then use to setup your QT and have a ready made bio filter. Bacteria from an established FW will not work for SW.

Whether you run one or multiple QT tanks is up to you. I personally have two. One is a permanently setup reef tank for coral QT and tricky fish. The second is setup as a need it and is only for fish. If a fish in the former tank needs treatment it is moved into the latter.

Starting our first ever 90 gallon SW with 49 gallon refugium. We bought a 13 gallon tank for quarantine. Should we quarantine our CUC and do they need to be acclimated?

 

[beginner_reefer]

Starting our first ever 90 gallon SW with 49 gallon refugium. We bought a 13 gallon tank for quarantine. Should we quarantine our CUC and do they need to be acclimated?

40 gallon not 49. Sorry